Aunty Donna in New Show ★★★★½

Mad-as-cut-snakes Ballarat trio deliver their most ferocious hour of controlled chaos yet.

Aunty Donna in New Show.

Roxanne, Melbourne Town Hall and Max Watts (extra shows) until April 15

AUNTY Donna are fearless. And as we know, the fearless are peerless. The only thing they’re afeared* of is the dreaded 40-minute energy dip in hour-long sketch comedy shows.

I assure you, concerned reader, New Show has no such LULLs only LOLs. It’s a techno disco laugh-fest that’ll coax inhuman(e) noises from your cakeholes.

“Begin as you mean to go on” is not a funny part of this review. But it’s worth giving you this cliche because the trio of Broden Kelly, Mark Samual Bonanno and Zachary Ruane don’t let up for their full quota. The opening is a blitzkrieg of ’Strayan tomfoolery, reminiscent of Client Liaison’s post-ironic patriotism. Coincidentally, True Australian Patriots are on Friday and Saturday nights, a different take on the current state of "the a---e end of the earth” as Paul Keating once dubbed our wide brown land.

Ruane’s Mr Whoopee hits some brown notes; members of the crowd take the stage and bite the proverbial pillow without the comfort a safety cushion. Another winning sketch is a Dodo vs TPG call centre conversation that sees Bonanno excel. His dirty old “Frunchman” is an icky delight too. Broden’s bellicose bellowing has us in stitches. They can all dance too.

Thematically, they take a scattergun approach that hits the target and catches laughs on the ricochet. Crossing Over with John Edward, MasterChef and Inception are all used/spoofed, the callbacks are timely and you’ll leave the show with a weird craving for mi goreng. Maybe it’s to improve your bone density? Zac isn’t a fan of things going awry though, he doesn’t need to endure this s....tuff.

A mini quiz segment sees the hapless contestant fall victim to answering questions... too early. Aunty Donna use this device playfully — as do Sara Pascoe and Rose Matafeo — and already it has emerged as the festival’s common gags weapon.

Aunty Donna’s New Show is the new jazz, the new jive (turkey), the new black. It’s their year. If you miss this run, you can only ask yourself one questionnaire: “Where the bloody hell are ya?”

*They also love mispronouncing words like “massage-ee”